Municipality Laško

The municipality lies along lower part of the Savinja river, which separates Posavsko hills into western and eastern part. Locals see the future of the municipality in tourism and economic activities closely linked with it.

Municipality Laško, which is part of the Savinjska statistical region, measures 198 km2; this ranks it 26th among Slovene municipalities.

Statistical data for 2009 reveal the following:

In the middle of 2009 about 13,700 people (about 6,700 men and 7,000 women) were living in the municipality, which ranks Laško 40th among Slovene municipalities. The population density was 69 people per square kilometre, which was lower than the national average of 101 people per square kilometre.

The number of live births was lower than the number of deaths, which means that natural increase per 1,000 population in the muncipality was negative. It was -5.5 (in Slovenia 1.5). The number of people who moved from the municipality was lower than the number of people who moved into the municipality, so net migration per 1,000 population in the municipality was positive. It was 7.1. The sum of natural increase and net migration per 1,000 population in the municipality was positive. It was 1.5 (in Slovenia 7.2).

The mean age of people in Laško was 42.0 years, which was higher than the national average (41.4 years).

As in most Slovene municipalities, in Laško the number of old people was higher than the number of young people: there were 130 people, aged 65 or more, per 100 people aged 0–14. This ratio shows that the value of the ageing index was higher than the national average of 118. It also shows that the mean age of people in Laško is growing more rapidly than in Slovenia as a whole. Data by sex show that the ageing index for women was in all Slovene municipalities higher than the ageing index for men. In Laško – as in most Slovene municipalities – more women were 65+ years old than 14 or less; for men the situation was exactly the opposite.

Laško had 6 kindergartens. They were attended by 406 children or 70% of all children aged 1–5, which was less than the national average of 72%. In the school year 2009/10 elementary schools in Laško were attended by about 1,000 pupils, while various upper secondary schools were attended by about 650 pupils. There were 50 students and 9 graduates per 1,000 people in the municipality; in Slovenia the averages were 56 per 1,000 and 9 per 1,000, respectively.

Among people aged 15–64 (i.e. working age population) about 60% were persons in employment (i.e. persons in paid employment or self-employed persons), which is less than the national average of 61%.

The registered unemployment rate was 9.9%, which is more than the national average (9.1%). As in most Slovene municipalities, more women than men were unemployed.

In Laško, average monthly gross earnings per person employed by legal persons were about 11% lower than the annual average of monthly earnings for Slovenia; and net earnings about 8% lower.

Every 19th person in the municipality was receiving at least one financial social assistance. In Slovenia as a whole every 23rd person received at least one financial social assistance.

The value of gross investment in new fixed assets in the municipality (EUR 1,404 per capita) was lower than the national average (EUR 2,564 per capita).

In 2009, there were 433 dwellings per 1,000 population. About 50% of dwellings had at least three rooms. Average size of dwellings in the municipality was 72 m2.

Every other person in Laško had a car (51 passenger cars per 100 population); cars in this municipality were on average 9 years old.

In tourist accommodations in the municipality around 27,500 arrivals and 142,300 overnight stays of tourist were recorded, which is approximately 0.9% of all arrivals and 1.6% of all overnight stays of tourists in Slovenia.

In 2009, 308 kg of municipal waste per person was collected in Laško, which is 96 kg less than on average in Slovenia.